Global Box Office

We live in times when box office winners are supposed to be big, strong and larger than life. But a week after the small yellow gibberish-spouting creatures of Minions dominated charts in the U.

It was only a year ago that the domestic box office numbers kept going down and pundits were seriously talking of the theatrical experience turning into something reserved for major franchises and for the new crowds of ticket-buyers in China and other territories. But as 2015 has entered into its second half, and after major hits such as Furious 7, Avengers: The Age of Ultron, Pitch Perfect 2 and Jurassic World, we can now safely say that those reports about the imminent demise of the traditional theater were, as Mark Twain would say, greatly exaggerated.

During the 4th of July weekend Americans display their flags, enjoy barbecues, rush to the beach, and they go the movies. The patriotic weekend is actually a very desirable time to open a new picture and to secure the date, and scare away the competition; studios sometimes claim it years in advance.

Would the dinosaurs of Jurassic World continue to rampage across the universe as they have been doing since they started rolling into theaters a little over two weeks ago or would they finally be sated? That’s been the question on analysts’ minds and the resounding answer has been that there’s apparently quite a bit of appetite left in the not-so-extinct reptiles. Originally conceived by the fantasy of Michael Crichton and brought to the big screen by Steven Spielberg they continue to generate new records.

Pixar has a pretty good idea what it feels like to be number one: that’s the spot each of their films has opened at since Toy Story. But if coming second means collecting $91 million (just below Toy Story 3’s record $110 million) while surpassing Avatar for the most successful opening for a non-sequel, you would still be justified in feeling like a winner.

22 years after Steven Spielberg first introduced us to the wonders of Jurassic Park and 14 years after the third and disappointing installment of the franchise, some feared bringing it back was not going to work. There would not be enough viewers nostalgic of the magic of those early days, they claimed.

This was supposed to be the week in which Spy faced off against Entourage: an action-comedy pic with Melissa McCarthy and Jude Law as two inept spies against Adrian Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Jeremy Piven and the boys of the successful HBO series now promoted to the big screen. But there was no competition.

San Andreas has no aliens, no monsters and no superheroes. Just Mother Nature in all its fearsome fury, in the form of devastating earthquakes that bring total devastation to Nevada first, then L.

Los Angeles.  Being number one is always good, and better than being number two or ending up even lower.

This was supposed to be Fury Road’s weekend, with the iconic character of Mad Max now inherited by Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in the role of the bald headed scary, and scarred, Imperator Furiosa. And things were pretty good for George Miller’s return, after 30 years, to its post-apocalyptic landscapes.